


Work Isn't That Important

by Alices_Madness



Series: Adventures In Littlespace [2]
Category: Game Grumps
Genre: Age Regression/De-Aging, Arin is Stressed TM, Carer!Dan, Carer!Suzy, Crying, Forgive Me, Multi, Non-Sexual Age Play, Non-Sexual Intimacy, Pinky is the bestest friend, Relationship explainations, Sleepy Cuddles, Suzy is a Worried Mother TM, little!Arin, minor edits, no editing we die like the men we arent, play-doh, play-doh should not cause a large box to fall almost on your head but hey Arin is a special case, slight swearing in the first paragraph, this was all written at 4am on a monday
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-30
Updated: 2019-11-24
Packaged: 2020-11-07 23:21:52
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 4,128
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20825501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Alices_Madness/pseuds/Alices_Madness
Summary: Arin is feeling little at the office, but he doesn't want to bother anyone. So instead of dealing with it logically like a normal human being, he blocks all his feelings away with work, until that doesn't work anymore.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> yes this is all 403% self-projection i am aware i do not care it is 4 am and i have school in two hours I will die on this hill that Arin is a little non-verbal baby who needs love fight me btw i am severely sleep-deprived do not mind me.

“Fuck.” Arin groaned, leaning back in his chair. He had so much work to do today, not to mention the probably 30 or 40 emails he’d been putting off dealing with. All of that, on top of the fact he was feeling small as fuck all. He knew he could go to Dan or Suzy, and they’d be happy or help, or even Barry, or Ryan or Matt. But he was the boss, he was supposed to be the boss, the dude in charge who knew shit. Now imagine your boss, and best friend (or husband!), curled up in your lap sucking on his thumb, mentally 4 years old. He didn’t want to push that on Dan today. Ryan was out sick, Barry was on vacation, Matt was off doing something, Suzy and Dan were both working, shit. He took a deep breath, steeled his nerves, and burrowed himself in his work, praying to god, or whoever was listening that he could make it through the day. Every time he felt himself become a little smaller, he shook it away, forcing himself to be big, burying himself in more work. Every time his mind wandered, he caught himself, opened an email, and focused every bit of himself on whatever needed doing. He built walls around the impending flood, he couldn’t deal with it, no one wanted to deal with that today. He had to work. Work, yeah, he opened another email. He wouldn’t, no, couldn’t let his mind wander from work. Around lunchtime, Dan came into his office to see if he wanted to go grab lunch, and the second Dan caught his attention and pulled him out of his self-induced work-coma, the walls began to break. The overwhelming want to just be curled up in Dan’s arms and watching Paw Patrol flooded his mind. Dan didn’t want to deal with him today though, he had work to do. Tears began welling in his eyes, and Arin wrapped his arms around himself.

“Oh, oh Arin, what’s wrong?” Dan quickly knelt to be at his level, wrapping an arm around him. The comforting arms around him finally broke down the barriers he had tried so hard to keep up, and he cried. He sobbed, holding onto Dan as if he might lose him if he let go. After a few minutes, Suzy came rushing into the room, hearing the crying as she passed.

“Who’s crying? What’s wrong? Oh, Arin, baby,” She quickly came over to them and helped Dan move Arin over to the couch he had in his office. Once there, Arin curled up, burying his face in the crook of Dan’s neck. Suzy sat on the other side of him, hugging him. They let him cry, figuring it was easier to let him ride it out instead of trying to get him to stop. The minutes dragged on, and Dan’s leg began to fall asleep, but it didn’t matter. He needed to be there for Arin, and help him with whatever he was crying about.

“P-pinky?” Arin asked after a few minutes, voice broken and raw.

“Right here, baby,” Suzy was right there with his favorite stuffed animal, a chocolate brown monkey with a pink bowtie, that had velcro on his hands and feet so you could attach him places. Arin took the stuffed animal, hugging it to his chest. After a few more minutes, and Arin had stopped crying, Dan ventured to ask.

“Why were you crying, buddy?” He asked, softly.

“W-work, ema-ail, gots ta do stuffs,” Arin mumbled in response. He took Pinky’s ear in his mouth, chewing it worriedly.

“Oh, honey, it's okay! You don’t have to get everything done today. It's so super helpful, what you’ve done today.” Suzy told him.

“S-sure? Won’t, won’t be m-mad?” He asked, looking up at her.

“Of course not, big cat, we’d never get mad at you,” Dan told him assuringly. Arin just looked down again, nodding softly before leaning back into Dan, worrying Pinky’s ear more. Dan shot a glance at Suzy, but she was a step ahead, already grabbing Arin’s pacifier from his emergency box. She softly coaxed Pinky’s ear out of his mouth, replacing it with Arin’s favorite hot pink pacifier. They stayed like that a little longer, the three of them, cuddling on the couch, until Dan’s stomach growled and reminded him of why he had entered Arin’s office to begin with.

“Hey buddy, how do you feel about lunch? You hungry?” Arin shrugged.

“Well big cats gotta have big lunches so they can play later, you know that, right?” The promise of playing caught Arin’s attention. He nodded, looking up at Dan.

“Well, how about I cook you up some mac and cheese, and some chicken nuggets? Those always help you feel better, don’t they?” Suzy asked, and Arin nodded, smiling in response.

“I’ll go get some started.” She kissed Arin on the forehead, before getting up and making her way out to the kitchen to start cooking. Dan and Arin stayed cuddled on the couch for a little while longer, in blissful silence. After a little while, Dan spoke.

“Just so you know, you can always let me know if you’re feeling small. I don’t care how busy I am, you always come first,” Arin just kinda nodded.

“You gotta promise me that you’ll let me know if you’re feeling small next time. Please,”

“I promise,” Arin mumbled, leaning his head into Dan’s shoulder.

“Good. Now, how about we get up, Suzy would be just about done with lunch for us.” Arin nodded and got up, grabbing Dan’s hand once he stood up, letting him walk him to the kitchen. When they got there, Suzy was just pulling out plates. She plated the food for them, setting a plate for each of them.

“Thank you, momma,” Arin mumbled as she took the pacifier from his mouth, setting it on the counter so he could eat. Arin tended to go more nonverbal while he was regressed, leaning towards short sentences, simple words, or just nodding or shaking his head. Suzy smiled at the name, she was glad he felt comfortable enough around her to give her a name that meant so much in his headspace. They ate in relative silence, Suzy sending out a quick text blast to everybody in the office today to tell them Arin was in headspace, and they would most likely be taking over the lounge area for the afternoon. Once they were finished with their lunch, Dan took the plate and washed them quickly as Suzy and Arin went to the lounge area to put on whatever tv show Arin felt like watching. When he went over, he found Arin curled up in Suzy’s lap, more or less enraptured with whichever episode of Paw Patrol that was playing, holding Pinky close to his chest. They stayed like that for a while, the three of them, until Arin eventually fell asleep, cuddled between his momma and dada. They may have not gotten a lot of work finished that afternoon, but knowing their baby was happy and wasn’t working himself stupid anymore was worth it. Besides, they got to see a sleepy Arin, the most precious being.


	2. Playtime, Toys, And Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Arin is little at the office, Suzy has to go help with something, and Dan gets busy. How will a mostly non verbal mentally 4 year old survive? Go on a hunt for the Play-Doh, of course

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So someone commented on the last one and said they were excited for when/if a part 2 came out, and who am I but a servant to the masses
> 
> btw all the 'dialouge' Arin has w Pinky is really just in his head. like I said, he's a little nonverbal baby who needs some love

Arin woke up from his nap to silence. He was laid on the couch, but where was his momma? And dada? He remembered cuddling with them before falling asleep. He sat up, rubbing his eyes. He yawned and stretched, feeling something fall into his lap. He looked down to see his pacifier. He picked it up, putting it back in his mouth as he reached for his monkey Pinky. Momma and dada always said if he got lost, to stay where he was, and they would come to find him. So he stayed there, sitting on the couch. He hunted around for the remote, making sure not to move too much in case momma and dada came looking for him. Once he finally found it, he turned on the tv, smiling excitedly when an episode of Paw Patrol was on. He watched a few episodes of Paw Patrol before he got sidetracked. He wanted to play, didn't dada promises him playtime after lunch? He thought about it for a few minutes, there was still play-doh leftover from their video they filmed a few days ago.

'Come on Pinky, wes gonna find the play-doh!' Arin stood up, grabbing Pinky, and setting off. He first went to the power hour room, making his way carefully through the wires and stands. He knew they were expensive, momma and dada would be really mad if he broke one of the thingys. He got to the tote they kept all their supplies in but didn't see any play-doh. He pouted but was determined to find it. He continued to look through the room, on top of the high shelves, underneath the couches. He still couldn't find it!

'It's not here, where is it?' He asked Pinky.

'Storage! You're so smart, Pinky! Bowties always make you smart. Let's go!' Arin quickly made his way down the scary storage hallways. They were narrow and dark and not greatly lit. Arin clutched Pinky to his chest, sucking on the pacifier in his mouth a little more.

'Don't worry, Pinky. I'm here, you don't need ta be scared.' He told the monkey. He wrapped its arms around his neck, using the velcro on his hands to keep him there so he could have both hands to grab the heavy boxes. He searched the shelves, pulling out boxes and looking through them. But he still didn't find it! He wandered deeper through the shelves. He held Piny closer as the shelves closed in little by little. Things were thrown haphazardly in boxes, boxes half out of their shelves, no one cared to organize back here. Full of props they weren't gonna use again, unused wires, or games that broke but someone was too lazy to throw out. The shelves grew darker and darker, and he started to get scared. He wasn't finding the play-doh, and Pinky was getting scared too. But Pinky's smart, he doesn't get scared! And if Pinky's not scared, Arin's not scared! But it _was_ really dark-all of a sudden, a loud bang immediately followed by clattering, shattering and loud sharp sounds came from behind him. He whirled around, stumbling backward, tripping over something and falling. He hit the floor hard, crying out, his pacifier falling, clattering as it hit the floor somewhere next to him. He held onto Pinky, squeezing his eyes shut against the sudden pain. He laid there for a moment, eyes welling up with tears, whimpering. Pain radiated through his back. Suddenly, he heard shouting. He whimpered, tears escaping, trying to back up, away from the shouting.

"Hey! What happened? Everyone all right?" He heard running footsteps coming towards him, shouting voices, it was too much, he let out a sob, clutching Pinky.

"Arin, Arin is that you? Oh, oh it's okay! It's okay, I'm here. I'm here baby, it's okay, you're all right." He felt arms wrap around him, and he instinctually curled into them, accepting the comforting touch.

"You're alright, you're safe. You're good, you're good baby, I'm here," Dan softly cooed, rocking Arin back and forth as he tried to stop crying. He pulled away, wiping at his eyes. He looked up at Dan with watery eyes.

"Are you hurt? Did you fall?" Arin nodded.

"Show me where?"

"M back," Arin mumbled, closing the distance between him and Dan once more, curling up in his arms.

"Aww, I'm sorry baby," Dan rubbed his back, easing away the pain. They stayed there for a minute, sitting on the cold concrete floor. Arin finally stopped crying, and Dan helped him up to a standing position.

"Why are you all the way back here, anyway? You know it's not safe for a little boy to be back here without anyone."

"I hads Pinky!" Arin held up the monkey to prove to Dan he wasn't alone, and in fact, had had someone with him.

"Pinky is very helpful, but you should've told someone where you were going, or at least what you were gonna get. What were you trying to get?"

"Play-doh. Said playtimes afta lunch. An you and momma wasn't there when I waked up." That explained why some Disney show was playing on the tv, unattended.

"I'm sorry, Momma got a call she had to answer, and I got caught up talking to Brian. You should've stayed on the couch, we would've been right back."

"Did! For a loooong time. Pinky wanted ta play."

"Oh, Pinky! You know the rules, you always have to tell momma or dada where you're gonna go, right?" Dan questioned the monkey in Arin's arms.

"Mmhm." Arin nodded.

"Well, come on. Step over the box, careful, yep," Dan helped Arin over the battered fallen box, and out of the storage area. When they got out, Brian was there with a broom and a dustpan, walking back to the box, and Suzy was there as well. She quickly ran over.

"Did you drop something? Did you fall, did you get hurt? Are you okay?" She worried over Arin almost immediately.

"He fell and hurt his back a little bit. I think he might've bumped the box when he walked past and it fell," Dan explained.

"Oh, sweetie, why were you back there? You know it's not that safe back there,"

"Pinky wanted ta play wif play-doh,"

"Well, Pinky, so you know, the play-dohs on my desk. I was gonna bring it home so we could play with it when we got home!" Suzy took Pinky, and Arin's hand, leading them to her desk, and opening a drawer to show two whole packages of play-doh. Arin lit up, quickly reaching in and grabbing it.

"You guys wanna go play with it now?" Arin nodded, smiling brightly.

"Well, go play in the lounge, you can use the tray in there." She sent him off. 

"Can't leave him alone for five minutes," Dan shook his head, laughing.

"Why would you want to, though?" Suzy shrugged, smiling and heading off to follow Arin, Dan heading off to help Brian clean up the mess in the storage hallway.


	3. Car Rides

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Car rides with Suzy, sleepy baby Arin, and Dan through the magic of the telephone.

"Come on, baby, time to go home." Suzy pulled Arin up from his spot on the floor, having picked up the unused playdoh already.

"Dino!" Arin picked up his playdoh creation, proudly showing his momma. It was a stegosaurus made of green and pink playdoh. They hadn't had any blue, it had all gotten used during the shoot.

"It's beautiful,"

"For dada," he told her.

"He'll love it. Do you wanna run and give it to him before we leave?"

"Dinner?"

"Well, sweetheart, I hadn't asked if dada wanted to have dinner with us. He might be having dinner with uncle Brian tonight," Suzy explained. Arin's eyes saddened. He was really looking forward to spending his evening with both momma and dada, "Why don't you when you give him your stegosaurus, ask if he wants to eat with us tonight? How bout that?" Arin nodded happily and quickly went to find Dan. After a few minutes, he found him talking to Jory.

"Dada?" He tugged on Dan's shirt, trying to get his attention. Dan quickly turned around, holding up a hand to Jory to tell him 'in a second'.

"Yea, big cat? What is it?"

"Dino!" Arin proudly held up his playdoh creation once more, handing it to Dan.

"Arin, that's awesome! Is it for me?" Arin nodded, "I'll put it on my desk, right behind my mouse so I can always see it, how bout that?" Dan walked the few feet to his desk, setting down the playdoh creation.

"Dinner?" Arin asked, hesitant.

"Do you want me to come over and have dinner with you guys?" he nodded, "I'd love to! Are you guys headed out soon?"

"Picking up now,"

"Okay, well I have a bit more to do before I can leave, how about I meet you guys at the house?" Arin smiled, nodding, "Okay, see you soon, big cat." Dan kissed Arin's forehead, before sending him back to Suzy. Arin quickly found Suzy, who was just about ready to leave.

"Dada!" He smiled widely.

"He's coming over for dinner?" Suzy asked, and he nodded.

"House!" he added.

"Is he gonna meet us at the house?" Another nod.

"Okay, well, I'm gonna go talk to him for a second. Can you put your jacket on for me?" Suzy offered Arin his coat, and he nodded, determined to be able to do it. He was a big boy! He can zip up his coat all by himself! Suzy walked away, and Arin put on his coat. He struggled with the zipper, finally zipping it up about halfway before it got stuck. He was trying to get it to work, to no avail when two hands moved his away and zipped it up for him. He looked up to see Suzy.

"You did such a good job! Putting your coat on all by yourself, zippers are pretty hard, aren't they?" Arin nodded, "Come on, time to go home." Arin quickly picked up Pinky from where he was sitting on Suzy's desk, and took her hand, and let her lead him out of the building and to the car. She opened the passenger door, helped him in and buckled him up, before placing her bags in the backseat and walking around the car and jumping in the driver's seat. Suzy pulled out of the parking lot, pulling into the nightly traffic. Arin pulled his knees up to his chest, holding Pinky to his chest as well as he sucked his thumb, head resting against the window. Music played quietly as Suzy drove and Arin dozed.

_He must've stressed himself out so much if he's this tired. A thirty-minute nap earlier, and dozing now? Poor baby_, Suzy reached over, softly rubbing Arin's arm. He leaned into the touch, clearly wanting to cuddle. The traffic seemed so much worse than usual, it was going to take a much longer time to get home than she had planned. She quickly dialed Dan, calling him to let him know.

"Hey, Suzy, what's up?" Dan's voice crackled through the phone.

"Dada?" Arin mumbled, shifting in his seat.

"Hey big cat, you sound sleepy. You tired?"

"Mmhm," he nodded, eyes still closed.

"We're on our way home right now, traffic is a lot worse then I figured it'd be. I thought I'd let you know so you weren't in a rush or anything to get here on time."

"Yeah actually, I was just about to head out now. If traffics that bad, I should be there in about half an hour. I'll help with dinner, no reason for you to do it yourself," Dan told her.

"You're too sweet, so we'll see you soon?"

"Soon, and then we can have dinner and cuddle and watch movies, sound good big cat?"

"Mmm," was all he got as a response, Arin had fallen back asleep.

"I'll take that as a yes. See you soon," Dan chuckled, hanging up. The rest of the car ride passed in happy quiet, Suzy silently frustrated with the traffic, but she wasn't about to wake Arin up, he needed it. Once she finally pulled into the driveway and turned the car off, it was almost 5 pm, and they had left the office at 4:30! Usually, it only took them 10 minutes to get home, she couldn't imagine why traffic was so bad. On a Thursday, even! She brought her bags inside, unlocking the front door and getting inside, before going back put to wake up Arin.

"Come on, buddy, uppy time, up, up!"

"Sleepy," Arin mumbled.

"I know, but you gotta wake up! Dada's gonna be here soon, do you wanna have dinner? We can all cuddle and watch movies after. You can't do that if you're still sleeping, silly,"

"Dinner?"

"Yeah, dinner, but you gotta get up first!" Arin uncurled himself from his seat, letting Suzy unbuckle him, and help him out of the car. He yawned, rubbing at his eyes with both hands, Pinky hanging from one fist.

"Come on, you can play with your blocks while I make dinner," Suzy led him into the house and the living room, pulling out the tote of the large building blocks. She let Arin pull out the blocks and start playing, before disappearing into the kitchen to start dinner. After a little while, she heard the door open. She peaked her head out in time to see Arin effectively tackle Dan with a big hug. Little Arin was a cuddle bug, always wanting to hug or cuddle. Suzy couldn't help but laugh, retreating into the kitchen when she heard the water threaten to boil over. Dan walked into the kitchen, running water over something she just caught out of the corner of her eye before disappearing into the living room again. A second later, he entered the kitchen again, wrapping his arms around her waist, resting his chin on her shoulder as she stirred the mac & cheese.

"Brian found his pacifier by the mess in the storage hallway, probably dropped it when he fell. I wanted to wash it off real quick before giving it back to him." Dan explained. Suzy nodded. It didn't take too long to long to finish cooking dinner, and they all sat at the kitchen island to eat. Dan sat on Arin's right and Suzy on his left. They helped cut the pieces of hot dog smaller if he needed and generally tried to stop him from making a horrible mess with his food. Worked about as well as it always does. When dinner was finished, Suzy washed Arin's face as Dan rinsed the dishes. She helped Arin into his pajamas, giving him his pacifier, before letting him go and pick out a movie to watch. She walked into the kitchen to help Dan finish up, coming just as he finished the last plate.

"Guess I'm late," She laughed.

"So well-timed, I can feel the heartbreak," Dan mocked. They worked together to put away a few dishes as they heard the movie start. They walked out to see Arin in the middle of the couch, with just about every pillow and blanket in the house there with him, sucking softly at his pacifier, Pinky in his arms.

"Baby, where are we supposed to sit?" Suzy asked, laughing. Arin pushed the pile of comfort onto the floor, opening the couch for cuddles, reaching for his momma and dada. They took both sides on Arin, then pulled the blankets back up to cover them. Arin curled into Suzy, leaning his head on her shoulder. Suzy and Dan had their arms wrapped around him, holding hands. They stayed like that until the movie ended, and whatever autoplay offered was silently agreed 'sure we'll watch it'. It was barely halfway through the movie, just pushing 8, and Arin was fast asleep.

"He must've stressed himself out so much, I can't imagine. So tired today," Suzy mused, as she untangled herself from the mess of limbs and blankets, "Arin, sweetheart, you wanna go to bed? Come on,"

"Mm, movie," he muttered, his pacifier falling from his mouth. Suzy giggled, picking it up from her lap.

"Baby, the movie ended, you fell asleep. Come on, time for bed." She pulled him up, Dan following as they got him into the bedroom and in bed before he fell asleep again. They tucked him in, setting his pacifier on the bedside table, making sure the nightlight was on before they turned the light out and left the room. Back on the couch, they searched through Netflix for something to watch.

"Hey, Suzy, I gotta ask. What exactly, you know, are we?" Dan turned to her.

"What do you mean?" 

"Like, us. I wouldn't say we're together, but then we do this whole cuddling thing and that arms around the waist while your cooking thing."

"Well, I guess you could say we're parents," she just shrugged. Dan nodded, staying silent as Suzy started a show. She leaned against him, her head on his shoulder as he pulled a blanket across them. He couldn't think of a better way to describe them. They were there for each other as they were there for Arin. Arin needed both of them, and they needed each other. Even when Arin wasn't in his headspace, they were all found together. They were all vital parts of each other's lives. Maybe they didn't need to be defined. Maybe they just needed to be. Yeah, just being. That seemed right.


End file.
